I started investing in 2008, and while I don’t have any shiny financial certifications or secret trading strategies, I’ve made plenty of mistakes. I’ve suffered the dreaded margin call (where your broker demands more funds to cover losses), watched leveraged ETFs erode my money, and prayed to the almighty because I tried to “catch the bottom” only to watch the market knife slice deeper.

I’m not here to predict what will happen tomorrow or next week. Instead, I want to share the lessons I’ve learned from those mistakes and how they shape my thinking today. My hope is that you can avoid some of the pain I’ve experienced along the way.